Odd 'Man' Out
by SEZwho94
Summary: Stealthblade's back with the third book in the series and is badder than ever. No longer torn over who he was, our black mech looks to the future, but it may not be as bright as he hoped. Bonds are broken and lives lost, the cons will never let him rest.
1. Prologue

**This is the third installment of a series. Please read the other two stories first or this one will make zero sense. You can find them on my profile.**

**And for you loyal returning readers, yes, end of June, like I promised! (though I may have been cutting it a little close) Please enjoy this wild new edition that sends Stealthblade through tail spins!**

"Keep your head low and stick to the walls. I'll provide cover fire." Stealthblade whispered to his younger brother.

Stormstrike simply nodded in affirmation and did as instructed, moving almost stealthily for a mech of his size. Stealthblade's attention focused onto the nearest Decepticon, which could easily spot Stormstrike if he'd only turn around. The elite stealth soldier fired a single shot from his sniper rifle, and the mech was down.

While Stormstrike ran along the bottom of the crevice where the cons had all built up, Stealthblade skimmed along the top, firing only when necessary and never blowing his cover. Then they both reached the goal, a small camp of neutrals, who'd been taken hostage.

_You still up to this? _Stormstrike asked playfully.

_No problem here. _Stealthblade retorted.

_Then let's have some fun. _The gray and blue elite ran around the perimeter, using the shadows whenever he could.

Decepticons looked around carefully, being more alert than usual. They knew they were out there, and were frightened. Stealthblade hissed lowly to himself as he counted their numbers. He and Stormstrike had to get through eight Decepticons before they could reach the neutrals and then probably four or five more that would surely come in as backup once the ruckus had begun.

_Keep and optic out for cons coming back in. _Stealthblade warned his brother.

_Easy enough. _Stormstrike let his sensor orb glow just enough to catch Stealthblade's attention. He was simply reminding him of his special ability.

_And don't get cocky. _Stealthblade hissed again.

They moved in on the cons together, Stealthblade more like liquid velvet while Stormstrike was more shuffled and tedious. They both made it to predestinated cover spots and then nodded to one another, using their bond to signal when the right moment to attack was.

Stormstrike reared up first, catching the con's attention. He fired precisely, not one shot falling astray. Stealthblade then shot down each soldier that dared lunge to the neutrals, like they'd been hoping to use them as a shield. All eight cons where taken down with ease, allowing Stealthblade and Stormstrike to move in and free the neutrals.

Keeping them together they escorted them out towards the nearest Autobot base, where they'd be safe. Stealthblade watched the wall of rock he'd been running along earlier and picked off any cons that dared peek their heads over. Stormstrike even claimed a few Stealthblade failed to notice.

They walked up to the base, and Stormstrike's optics were gleaming victoriously. Stealthblade blew out a sigh and shook his head. Then the base in front of them disappeared into thin air, and their neutrals fizzled out of sight. Now instead of an Autobot base the two soldiers stood in front of a door, and they walked out.

"You two have shown drastic improvement." Doubleedge commented as they walked over to him.

"You better believe it. Stealthblade keeps drilling me all night on techniques and crap so I don't mess up again." Stormstrike griped.

"Because you didn't take our first few simulations seriously." Stealthblade countered and whacked him atop the head.

Doubleedge nearly smiled; their display of brotherly affection amusing.

"Okay you two, go get some rest. Montana wouldn't like it if you two were exhausted for her birthday tomorrow." Doubleedge reminded as he finished jotting down some information on a datapad, which Stealthblade had no doubt pertained to them.

"Oh yeah!" Stormstrike yipped in excitement, earning him another whack from his older brother.

"You forgot!" Stealthblade snarled.

"Did not; I was simply distracted by other thoughts." Stormstrike actually defended himself, which was highly unusual.

Stealthblade immediately pressed his clawed hand against Stormstrike's armored forehead, making the elite stiffen in surprise.

_What are you doing? _He dared to ask.

"I'm seeing if you're sick. You just defended yourself." Stealthblade pulled back.

"I am not sick." The Autobot snapped.

_Well the last time you defended yourself you were infected with my virus. _Stealthblade countered quite seriously.

"Ah…" The younger sibling rubbed the back of his neck apologetically.

"I think we should get some rest then…might do us some good after all."

Stealthblade would have rolled his optics if he had any. The pair bid Doubleedge farewell and began the journey to their quarters, which had become even more cluttered with stuff in the past six months since the incident with Vividhaze.

Not too much had happened in the time between, mostly minor skirmishes and a close call or two. Breakshift had nearly lost a leg the other day, but due to the combined skill of Ratchet and Pulse, it had been saved.

Optimus Prime and his team had chosen to remain on Earth longer due to the increased threat level the five con brothers created. Prowl hadn't been happy with the arrangement, but had finally given in by claiming he saw the logic behind it. Stormstrike had mentioned he thought Prowl just used his logic to hide how he felt, that was assuming he was capable of emotions other than annoyance and disdain.

As they passed the lounge Node sprang out and joined them.

"How was training?" The new Autobot asked.

He and Outspace had passed Optimus Prime's judgment and had been made full Autobots just the month before. Node was still a hard mech to deal with if he wasn't around Stealthblade or Stormstrike, but he had mellowed a little bit. More often then not Node could be found reading up on both Earth and Cybertronian history, and in another life Stealthblade saw him as being a historian of some sort. Perhaps even an archeologist, if transformers had those jobs.

Outspace had improved behavior wise even more than Node, following orders from bots other than Stealthblade and even volunteering to help out when needed. He had grown a strong friendship with Loosevalve, but due to this the rate of experiments gone wrong had climbed infinitely, and not one week went by where something did not catch fire or explode. Outspace's frustrated kicking was usually what triggered an explosion.

"We both passed again. Stormstrike remembered to hide this time to." Stealthblade answered calmly.

"Hey, they were supposed to see me anyways that time. I was the…"

"Don't want to hear it." The stealth soldier interrupted.

_Frag you. _

_Watch the language. _Stealthblade chuckled at Stormstrike's annoyed growl.

Node knew they were thinking to one another privately, so simply threw a wave and walked away, probably to go back to his post. He had been taken under Torrent's 'wing' in a manner of speaking and was training well under him. His aim had made major improvements and his sparring against Doubleedge was going well also. If he got too frustrated though he tended to break things, which included his own arm on one occasion, but his temper was starting to quell thanks to Stormstrike's combined efforts with Bumblebee to tame the gladiator.

Stealthblade was jarred from his thoughts as they reached the door to their room. Stormstrike entered first, pausing when he noticed his brother was still frozen outside the door.

"Coming?" Stormstrike inquired.

"Huh; oh yeah."

His gaze scattered around the room, absorbing the car and jet posters on the walls and ceiling, as well as the desk practically oozing with datapads and knick knacks; some harmless, others strong enough to cut through a transformer in a matter of seconds. Why did they have such deadly weapons lying out again?

_Because Ratchet hasn't given us a subspace yet. We get it after Montana's party tomorrow, don't forget. _Stormstrike giggled at the fact he was now the one reminding his brother of the things that were happening.

"I don't see why its taken him so long to make us one." Stealthblade sighed and sat down.

"He's a busy guy, and Pulse couldn't do anything because Ratchet's the one equipped for subspace installments." Stormstrike explained.

"I know, I know." The darker mech grumbled.

"Then why'd you ask?"

"Cause I'm tired." Stealthblade snapped and stretched out on his berth.

_Oh don't be so cranky bro. _Stormstrike rolled his optics and fell into recharge.

Stealthblade was quick to follow suit, actually excited about the following day. Montana's birthday was her golden year. She'd be turning eleven on January eleventh, and the Autobots had made a special treat for her. Now in a slightly better mood, Stealthblade got his well earned rest.


	2. Chapter 1

"You know, the last time you guys threw a birthday party for me we were attacked by Decepticons on our way to Yellow Stone and were stuck there for a whole week." Montana had not taken well to her surprise birthday jam, skeptically looking about the almost overcrowded lounge like it would explode any second. Her gaze lingered on Loosevalve.

"Don't say that Montana, we're not leaving the base this time." Breakshift cringed, wanting to kneel down and plead with her but unable due to his bad leg. Ratchet and Pulse had repaired it, but his internal repair systems still had a few bugs to work out.

Montana pursed her lips and placed her hands on her hips. The child could not be convinced that nothing bad would happen.

"You could just enjoy your own birthday like a normal little girl." Stormstrike muttered, suddenly latching onto the scruff of her shirt and hoisting her into his palm.

She issued a squeak of surprise but otherwise was unfazed. Bladestrike yipped wildly below, feeling left out. Reluctantly Stormstrike lifted up the dog to, just so he would shut up.

_You're such a kind soul. _Stealthblade teased.

_Shut it, or I drop the dog. _Stormstrike snapped back, completely focused on the mongrel that was slobbering all over his hand.

"You promise nothing's going to go wrong?" Montana crossed her arms and let her feet drop down over the edge of Stormstrike's palm.

"No, because we're unorthodox, and therefore, incapable of promising safety." Stormstrike reasoned.

Montana giggled at that, finally settled enough to enjoy all the trouble the Autobots had gone through for her. The lounge was packed with balloons, so many that Stealthblade wondered if any were even left in the city. Most were either blue or purple, Montana's current two favorite colors. To Stealthblade's amazement some of them even had gleaming Autobot insignias on them, but how they had gotten there was beyond the stealth soldier. He quickly blamed Sideswipe convincing Sunstreaker to paint them mentally.

_Spincycle did a few to. _Stormstrike enlightened.

_He's more artistic than I thought._

A nameless bot suddenly turned on the music, which made Montana burst into laughter. The brothers exchanged curious glances and were quick to spot a goofy grin spreading across Plasmagrade's faceplate.

"What is this?" Node shook his head, helm spikes flat in discomfort.

"Music ya dope." Outspace retorted.

"I know that glitch head." Node snarled back. "I meant why's it so weird?"

"Cause its dance music that tells you what to do." Stealthblade laughed, stepping between the two and throwing his arms around them, acting as a barrier.

Stormstrike suddenly set Montana back down along with her dog and quickly began to dance, getting laughed at by everyone.

"Hey, don't 'dis the Macarena!" Stormstrike laughed just as hard as everyone else, but not even this stopped him.

Stealthblade flickered his helm spikes in thought momentarily, wondering what dignity he still had left. He quickly came to the conclusion he no longer had any to worry about, and sprang in beside his brother, joining him in his fast paced moves.

Once Sideswipe, Jazz, and Plasmagrade joined in, everyone suddenly seemed to be dancing, even Bladestrike. The only bots left to look on at the spectacle was Rawspark and Prowl, both taking opposite corners of the room. Chain had simply disappeared, and Stealthblade assumed he'd gone back to monitor duty. Montana's laughter seemed to rise above all the rest despite her small stature as she watched the amazing spectacle of giant killing robots doing the Macarena.

Combat coding and simulation practice was suddenly being used for their dance, allowing everyone to move in perfect sync, like they'd rehearsed the entire thing.

"You're all so ridiculous!" Montana fell over, gasping for air and clutching her sides from her laughter.

"So you've noticed?" Stealthblade chuckled as the dance finished, and more appropriate background music took its place.

Montana snorted at the black mech's remark, only to be plucked gently off the ground and set onto a table were a stack of gifts piled high around her. Some were even taller than she was, making her mouth form a perfect O in surprise.

_Finally, something she looks excited over. _Stealthblade sighed in relief.

_Greedy little thing isn't she? _Stormstrike quickly invaded Stealthblade's thoughts.

Instead of responding Stealthblade spun around and gave Stormstrike a sharp but playful shove backwards, startling a few mechs who had been almost too close for comfort. Bumblebee took an extra couple steps back, worried the taller pair weren't paying attention to their surroundings.

"You want to open your presents first Montana, or cake?" Pulse suddenly leaned knowingly beside the table, his optics alight with a strange mixture of contentment and mischief. Montana narrowed her eyes at him carefully, trying to figure out his uncharacteristic appearance.

"Presents…I guess. It's not like you guys actually care about eating the cake."

"Yes, but we do have a lot of high-grade…" Stormstrike was whacked atop his helm by both Stealthblade and Rawspark, who had come out from his corner finally.

"Ouch, slaggit!" Stormstrike cringed, but wasn't really that upset.

Montana opened her presents in a predetermined order, receiving something from every bot on the base, even if some of the presents were joint gifts. Sunstreaker denied multiple times teaming up with Sideswipe to find Montana an appropriate gift, but Stealthblade couldn't figure out if he was lying or not.

_He's half lying. He suggested something, but Sideswipe's the one that went out of his way to get it. _Stormstrike indicated to Montana's new bike, which had what suspiciously appeared to be an engine.

_And how do you know this? _Stealthblade half glanced at his younger brother.

_Cause it's me. _Stormstrike laughed and gave the stealth soldier a rough pat on the back.

_I'm watching you. _

_Not nearly closely enough. _Stormstrike let his laughter settle into a content look.

"Uh-huh." Stealthblade snorted.

Finally there was only one gift left, this one tall and rectangular, standing on its small side and far larger than Montana. However no one moved forward to claim ownership of the girl's final gift.

"Guys?" Montana's gaze lingered especially long on the brothers, both whom hadn't given her anything yet.

"We thought we'd save the best for last, right Loosevalve?" Stormstrike grinned merrily.

Montana returned her gaze to the box, when suddenly it began to move. In the same motion Stealthblade moved back out of the way and sat down, seemingly powering down into a recharge. This went unnoticed by the girl, but caused a grin to spread across other Autobot's features. Even Dawncatcher had her hand over her mouth to conceal her glee.

_Here goes nothing. _Stealthblade felt his vision fade, and suddenly snap back into focus, only his surrounding were now the dark interior of, something. A grin lit up his face, a literal grin.

The box then folded down around him, and Montana sprang back behind Stormstrike's arm leaning on the table in alarm. Her eyes scanned over Stealthblade as if mystified, and slightly frightened.

_Wonder how I look? _Stealthblade hadn't gotten a chance to check himself out, and managed to catch his reflection in his sibling's recently polished armor.

His hologram looked one hundred percent real. His hair was black, slicked back but layered all the way down, making its length look like less then it actually was. Just behind his ears the hair tapered out just enough to resemble what his helm spikes looked like, which he found slightly amusing. His eyes were a light violet, just as they had been when he was still human.

Well tanned skin covered his holographic flesh, and rippled over hardened muscles fit for a twenty-five year old. Stealthblade estimated his height, and placed himself at about six foot, perhaps a hair shorter.

Covering his hologram was very realistic clothing, but to his dismay it fit his robotic appearance more than his personality. A deep black leather jacket with metal studs in the shoulders rested on his shoulders and covered a deep purple shirt, matching his normal visor color. His pants were a dark denim, with a few tears in the thighs, and then neatly tucked into a pair of black combat boots; steel tipped.

He took a few steps forward, letting a chink ring out as a chain belt lightly tapped against his hips. He turned away from his reflection, staring down at his holographic; but tangible; body.

"Damn Loosevalve, you weren't kidding when you said it would resemble us." Stealthblade raised his lip and spun around, attempting to look at his back, only to find the Autobot symbol stitched largely onto his leather jacket. Ironically enough a slightly faded and scuffed up Decepticon patch was on his shoulder.

_Am I sensing symbolism? _Stealthblade wondered.

"Are you sure you didn't plan our appearance?" Stealthblade looked up at the engineer.

"No, I swear! I had no way of determining your appearance, considering the advanced technology I had to overcome, getting those details was easier to just be fed through your own programming. I'm guessing you look like that not only to fit your physical appearance, but to fit your voice as well." Loosevalve explained as best he could.

"Wait…Stealthblade?" Montana crept out from behind Stormstrike's arm.

"Sure am kiddo." He smiled, and then smiled wider when he realized he could smile at her.

_I can smile, and wink and roll my eyes and… _Stealthblade tried to let out a pleased breath but realized he couldn't.

Montana suddenly began to creep forward, still looking nervous of Stealthblade's new appearance.

"How…?" She stopped just a few feet in front of him, not daring to come closer.

"Loosevalve, and Outspace and Pulse. Plus a few pointers from Ratchet." Stealthblade grinned smoothly, settling slightly crooked on his face.

_You look like one of those bad boys that you always tried to avoid Stealth. _Stormstrike commented privately.

_Well, it does suit my voice. _Stealthblade grumbled back and shot Stormstrike a short glare. He was finding it difficult to control his facial expressions considering how long it had been since he actually had a face to control.

"So is this just a hologram?" Montana inched another step forward.

Pulse then stepped in, leaning in closely to look over Stealthblade's form as he did so.

"Well, this is actually a new type of hologram, one that can be touched and can leave our bodies. All that's required is a tiny floating disc, which I suppose is suspended within Stealthblade's form, approximately level with where the human heart should be." Pulse began. "We can completely submerse ourselves into this form through the disk, slipping into what appears to be a light recharge while doing so. Technically are bodies are still active, but this hologram is what is getting the feed from our thoughts. Almost like it's interrupting our processor's signal and channeling it for its own purposes."

"Oh…" Montana clearly didn't get it.

"Just think of it as a video game, only Stealthblade's real body is sleeping while his consciousness is right in front of you." Pulse smacked his forehead, rewarding him with a few laughs from surrounding bots.

Montana finally closed the distance between herself and Stealthblade, looking straight into his eyes. He blinked down at her uncertainly.

"Funny, I thought you're eyes would match your visor, not your shirt." She muttered so the others couldn't hear.

"This is my natural eye color, from when I was human." He admitted, smiling weakly.

"You never told me you had violet eyes!" She murmured accusingly.

"It was never brought up." He shrugged.

Suddenly Montana reached out and grabbed his hand, looking at it and squeezing it like she was trying to make it real and not some highly advanced projection.

"Funny, you feel light." She gave his hand another squeeze.

"Well, that's technically all there is to me. Loosevalve could explain the details, but they're too complicated for us normal folk to understand." He smirked lightly.

Montana released Stealthblade, and then looked up at the others.

"This has got to be the coolest birthday present I've ever gotten!"

Stormstrike quickly snickered. "You haven't even seen the best part yet!"

He suddenly took a seat beside Stealthblade's snoozing body and shut down into what appeared to be a recharge. Then another hologram man walked out onto the table, looking foolishly sure of himself.

His hair was platinum blonde, and his eyes a bright light blue, just as Stealthblade remembered them from when he was human. Other than that though, Stormstrike's hologram bore no resemblance to his former organic body. His skin was well tanned, with a strong jaw line and thin build with well formed muscles of a twenty-one year old. He was of equal height as Stealthblade's hologram, but his hair flipped forward and up slightly, cropped short and framing his face handsomely.

On his back was a gray leather jacket, which surprisingly looked exactly the same as Stealthblade's only the Decepticon patch only had one shred mark running through it, while his had four. There were also no studs on his shoulders or chain around his hips. His pants were just slender blue jeans, pulled over dark gray leather boots. His lacked the steel toes however.

"Wow, I forgot what it's like having a mouth!" Stormstrike laughed, opening and closing his maw repetitively.

Pulse then stepped back in. "Unfortunately the technology's still experimental, so we only have five hologram discs made. And they can only last an hour, or else they'll burn out from use."

Montana's smile faded slightly, but then broadened when she focused on Stormstrike again. She quickly skipped over to him and gave him a firm handshake, giggling all the while. Not to Stealthblade's surprise, a blush formed across the hologram's face.

_Ah, my brother's gone pedophile! _Stealthblade gagged mentally.

_Oh shut up, I have not! We're the same age. _Stormstrike shot him a glare.

_You look like your in your twenties little bro. _Stealthblade continued to tease.

_Hardy har-har, and you're a creepy bad ass…with junk. _He added the last part after a pause.

_That was uncalled for._

_You set yourself up._

Stealthblade just snorted and turned away, lifting his nose high into the air. Loosecannon had been thorough in making the holograms as realistic as possible, and Stealthblade realized he may have been too thorough.

"Hey Montana, come here." Stealthblade waved her over.

She looked at him uncertainly, but heeded his call none-the-less.

"There's something I've always wanted to do," Stealthblade suddenly stooped down and threw his arms around the girl, giving her a firm but gentle hug. Much to his relief she was eager to return it.

"Stealthblade you silly mech." Montana smiled as he released her.

_Hey...you hugged her. _Stormstrike accused.

_Yes, I did. Is that a crime? _

_Well...no... _Stormstrike seemed uncertain of himself.

Stealthblade couldn't help but chuckle to himself which caused a smirk to grow across his face. Montana raised her brow in confusion, unaccustomed to seeing actual human expressions on her dark friend.

"You better time out of those things now you two. We're not sure of the side effects yet," Loosevalve requested; creepily cheery.

"Side effects? You tell us there's side effects now!" Stormstrike's look of horror was priceless, especially since his mouth could currently add to the overall effect.

Loosevalve simply shrugged good-naturedly.

"Come on Storm, better do as he says," Stealthblade chuckled with a grin, savoring the expression for a moment longer.

Montana's face was riddled with disappointment, but she didn't look like she was about to protest. After a careful self adjustment Stealthblade shut down the prototype and 'returned' to his body. He stood up carefully, evaluating his balance and running a self diagnostic just in case. Everything came back clear.

Stormstrike was quick to rise beside him, the whirring through his mind telling Stealthblade that he too was scanning over his systems. Suddenly he stiffened, but it was so slight no one else in the room seemed to notice.

_Hey bro? _Only Stormstrike's optics moved.

_What? _Stealthblade hesitated to meet his gaze.

_We could totally go sightseeing with Montana now!_

Stealthblade relaxed a bit and blew out an exasperated sigh.

_And here you had me worried about you._

Stormstrike merely chuckled and refocused his attention on the others, though conveniently keeping his line of vision away from Pulse and Ratchet. Right on queue the medical questions began flowing from both bots' mouth's.

"Do you two feel all right? No light headedness or equilibrium problems?" Pulse walked over and gave them a scan.

"Feel fine. Me healthy." Stormstrike pounded on his chest plate in response, getting a raised brow plate from Pulse in return.

Ratchet focused his attention on Stealthblade, running a few more scans over him than his brother. A critical look was present on his face plate, but Stealthblade was unsure of what the cause for it was.

"Well, no sign of the virus trying to do anything in your 'absence'. You don't detect it, do you?" Ratchet's words made the others all shift uncomfortably and Optimus Prime narrow his optics.

"Nah, it's good," Stealthblade tried to make his voice sound as relaxed as possible, but it just came out like he was sleepy.

In truth though Stealthblade could almost always feel his virus's presence now, like a lurking shadow on a wall. It was like whenever he tried to confront it, it suddenly wouldn't be there anymore. Stormstrike assured him it was probably just his mind playing tricks on him and paranoia, but Stealthblade wasn't so certain. Ever since he learned how to semi activate his virus's abilities, he could feel his combat coding change, like roughening around the edges. Of course the dark elite couldn't tell anyone of this yet, or else he'd be detained and evaluated. He told himself he could wait until his virus became a more up front problem.

_It's in your head Stealth. _Stormstrike assured yet again.

_Technically it's my neck. _Stealthblade combated while at the same time avoiding further mental chat.

"Sure it's good, but I want a..." Ratchet began.

"Ratch, give the mech a break; if he says he's good, then he's good," Jazz sauntered in on the conversation easily and drove the probing medic back. "Now aren't we celebratin' a certain gal's birthday?"

Ratchet exhaled through his vents slowly and gave in, but not without one final look at Stealthblade as if to confirm he really was all right. Stealthblade was glad for his visor, or else a nervous look would have been present on his faceplate.

"Okay people, back to partying! I believe it's time for cake and high-grade!" Stormstrike jumped forward and began loosening everyone back up.

Montana's face grew a smile once more and the dance music was turned down while all the Autobots recited the Happy Birthday song as Dawncatcher pulled a store made cake from her subspace and lit the candles. Just after the song finished Montana blew them out and quickly cut the small cake in half, one half for herself, the other for Bladestrike. Once this ritual was complete Stormstrike and Sideswipe dashed off for the high-grade, laughing merrily as they went as if drunk off the thought of it. Stealthblade merely groaned to himself.

"There's going to be lots of processor aches tomorrow," Rawspark commented as he suddenly materialized by Stealthblade's side.

"And one of them shares my thoughts," The black mech responded while lowering his helm spikes.

Rawspark gave him what Stealthblade wanted to call an amused look, but couldn't quite label it as such. Stormstrike's good nature really was starting to wear on the mech, but he had a long way to go.

"I suppose we should try to keep everything from being destroyed when everyone's plastered huh?" Stealthblade mumbled.

"If that thing is a human girl? Then yes." Rawspark's monotone sounded out of place but it no longer bothered the stealth soldier.

Stormstrike and Sideswipe made a dramatic reentrance, hollering about glorious high-grade and all its benefits. Stealthblade and Rawspark merely took a seat while the potent liquid was distributed and consumed. The two mechs acknowledged that even Dawncatcher and the Primes took high-grade though they sipped on it slower than the others. Prowl stormed out before Jazz could convince him to drink any, muttering about morning duties and intoxication. Stealthblade just chuckled to himself, content on watching the mayhem around him unfold.

**Fun Fact: Stormstrike did not learn how to do the Macarena until after he became a transformer. The guy's had a bit of spare time recently. XD**


	3. Chapter 2

"Do we have ta go to the doc bot now? I feel awful." Stormstrike moaned from atop his berth, barely keeping his optics online.

"I could have told you not to drink all that high-grade but you wouldn't have listened anyway." Stealthblade snorted. "And yes, we are getting our upgrades now."

Stormstrike moaned and rolled over, pretending to fall into recharge once more. Stealthblade growled threateningly, but it didn't bother his brother in the least.

"And I thought you were excited about getting a subspace compartment," Stealthblade scoffed when he saw intimidating his sibling wasn't going to work.

Stormstrike barely turned his head to acknowledge his older brother. He did look downright miserable, but he deserved it after getting overcharged enough to sing Christmas carols while trying to balance a drunken Bumblebee on his head. The situation had not ended pretty for either mech, both now having new dents to be hammered out.

"I am excited...just not now," Stormstrike gurgled out what he thought made sense.

Stealthblade held back the urge to face palm himself. Sucking in an even breath, the dark mech mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do. With Stormstrike so hung over, he couldn't concentrate on reading his older sibling's thoughts and remained oblivious.

Stealthblade approached his side silently, activating his battle mode and raising his transparency out of habit. Just as Stormstrike turned to glance at his brother again Stealthblade lunged, wrapping his arms around the elite's torso and hoisting him over his shoulder.

"WHAH, put me down!" Stormstrike yelped more in surprise than anything else.

_You should have just listened to me. _Stealthblade snapped as he strode out of their room.

_I'm tired, I gotta headache, and you're not helping! _Stormstrike flailed wildly for a moment, but Stealthblade's claws held him fast.

"Well that's your own slagging problem. You chose to stay up late, and you chose to get overcharged like that!" Stealthblade snarled while carrying his heavy younger brother. "Oh, and I'm never letting you get that overcharged again."

At that Stormstrike fell limp as if in shock.

"Never? Like as in ever?" Stealthblade could just barely make out Stormstrike's look of horror.

"Never as in till the day my spark grows cold," Stealthblade stated firmly.

Stormstrike seemed to contemplate his statement for a moment before looking rather confused. Stealthblade continued down the hall, hoping whatever was on the tip of his brother's 'tongue' would just stay there. He was not so lucky.

"But that already kinda happened, didn't it?" Stormstrike may have meant to sound like he was joking, but an old hurt just barely rose behind it.

"I mean starting now," Stealthblade decided the best way to avoid Stormstrike's sudden darkening thoughts was to lighten up himself.

"Oh...right," Stormstrike remained limp, his thoughts becoming a tangled mess and too blurry to read properly.

Stealthblade let out a low sigh, feeling an ache beginning to grow in his shoulder.

"Am I really going to have to carry you all the way to the Med-bay?"

Stormstrike remained silent for a moment before slowly shaking his head. Stealthblade let him down after a brief stare down and rolled out his stiff socket.

_I still have no idea how you carried me back at Vividhaze's._ Stealthblade shouldered Stormstrike to get moving again.

The gray and blue mech gave him a gentle optic smile.

"I call it brotherly love."

Stealthblade chuckled fondly for a moment. "Well I call it stubbornness."

The elite shrugged with a small laugh but was stopped short when it sent a spasm of pain to his processor. He winced in surprise and shook his helm as if it would help.

"Maybe getting so drunk isn't all that fun..." Stormstrike sulked.

_Especially since I can hardly remember anything last night after Montana finished her cake. _The bot seemed to grow sullen when he thought of Montana.

_She had a blast, if that helps. Oh, and you nearly professed your love to her but I stopped you in time. _Stealthblade watched as his sibling's armored faceplate turned to a look of horror.

"What did I say!" The elite stopped dead in his tracks, right outside the Med-bay doors.

"Nothing really," Stealthblade could see the mech was not convinced. "You just got down on a knee in front of her and said 'Montana I...' and then I threw Bumblebee at you and you started singing Christmas carols. She just laughed."

"Oh...that's good...I guess," Stormstrike's optics lowered to the floor, and Stealthblade could have sworn he felt disappointment rising out of his brother's spark.

_That's weird, I thought he'd be relieved. _The dark mech didn't have long to ponder over his sibling as the Med-bay door suddenly swished open.

Pulse stood in the entry way, not looking too pleased with the two elites standing before him. They were after all over an hour late for their appointment.

"Sorry Pulse, I couldn't get Stormstrike moving. I had to resort to carrying him."

Pulse snorted and motioned for the brothers to come in. Stealthblade quickly assessed he was in an irritable mood, probably because he also was overcharged the night before.

_Irritable is right, he's acting like Ratchet. _Stormstrike moaned internally.

Ignoring his sibling's comment Stealthblade progressed inside, taking a seat on a berth while his brother sat on one opposite of him. The Med-bay looked oddly disorganized, and yet not that much stuff was out. Stealthblade slowly realized it was because some of the lights above were askew while the floor had an unclean look.

Just then Ratchet exited from the office, rubbing his head from what was most certainly a processor ache. It took Stealthblade only a nanoclick to remember that Ratchet had gotten just as overcharged as Stormstrike and probably hadn't felt like fixing up the Med-bay from the day before.

_If Pulse is acting like Ratchet...what is Ratchet going to act like? _Stormstrike tensed as if in fight or flight mode.

_Like Ratchet with a migraine. _Stealthblade answered.

_Insightful. _

_Glad it helped. _Stealthblade retorted sarcastically.

"Okay you two slaggers, I'm going to have to put you two out in order to fully wire in your new subspaces," Ratchet explained unusually dully, but both brothers were certain the slightest irritant could set him off.

"That sounds pleasant," Stormstrike griped.

"Lay down." Ratchet snapped evenly. "This will take a few hours."

Both elites listened without further protest and before Stealthblade could even get in a clear thought Ratchet shut him down and turned his world black.

00000

"Cloudcover, you've returned," Shadowshifter greeted the femme as she entered their base.

She smiled in response, looking up and down the black leader's frame longingly. She knew she had risen in Shadowshifter's approval, but she still had her work set up for her if she ever planned on getting near Backlash trust level.

_No matter, time is on my side. _She thought to herself contently.

"Your report?" Shadowshifter was in business mode at the moment, so his emotions were well checked and hard to read.

"Overthrow is preparing a strike force to harvest some energy from a recently active volcano in Alaska. The team will be composed of six, and led by Closecall." Cloudcover remained as humble as possible, a trait that pleased her superior.

"And when will they be moving out?" Shadowshifter seemed distracted by something else, but what Cloudcover could only guess.

"Within an Earth rotation my Lord." The femme lowered herself while at the same time drawing closer.

"Inform Backlash of what you have told me, he'll know what's to be done," the black Decepticon waved Cloudcover off, growing even more distracted.

"My pleasure Shadowshifter." she backed off, knowing the con wasn't in the mood for her presence.

With a sharp turn she stalked further into their base, composed of hard rock that dampened their signatures and hid them from the Autobots.

_I wonder what could possibly have Shadowshifter so riled up? He's never so disheveled. _Cloudcover increased her stride as she tried to locate the Second In Command.

It didn't take her long, seeing as he was repairing their ship with Glasscutter's and Downpower's help. She retold her information to him as pleasantly as possible, knowing that if she didn't have his approval as well, she'd never get anywhere close to Shadowshifter.

"Inform Wildshot, he is to lead Sniperifle, Icetracker, Downpower, and you to investigate. Do not engage unless the situation proves favorable." The giant 'con instructed.

"Sir," Cloudcover nodded, curious herself about seeing these new Decepticons in action.

It had been many months since they, or rather her team, had returned to Earth, but they had still not had a good chance to observe their competition. She knew things were growing tense amongst Shadowshifter, Backlash, and Downpower because they were aware of something that she was not. Cloudcover decided to write it off as stress in the mean time, considering their were now two other Decepticon forces on Earth that didn't cooperate with them, but deep down she knew there was something else.

The femme left with Downpower at her side who remained quiet like usual. The monotone mech was a great curiosity to her, simply because he masked his emotions almost perfectly and gave an illusion of not having feelings at all. On the inside however Cloudcover could sense every flare and spike that he let off but gave no physical sign to. His act was in essence a display of perfect control which Cloudcover couldn't help but admire. If she didn't have previous interest in Shadowshifter and Stealthblade, she'd pour all her attention on him.

"You will inform Wildshot, I will gather the others," Downpower separated down at a different hall, leaving the femme to stare after him.

_I really should look into him more when I get the chance. _She mentally decided before continuing on to find Wildshot through the maze of tunnels.

It didn't take long, considering Wildshot at the moment was off duty and Sniperifle was still making her rounds outside. The two Decepticons could hardly ever be found separate from one another anymore, so this was a rare opportunity to evaluate the A-10 Thunderbolt II on his own.

"Wildshot, you have orders from Backlash," she announced her presence as she entered their makeshift break room.

The said con cocked his head back at her, turning his attention away from the monitor broadcasting some sort of human show, which under further investigation revealed to be the Syfy channel.

"And what would they be?" Wildshot did not look like he was in the mood to be taking orders.

"You're leading a party to Alaska to observe and possibly engage one of the Five Brothers' strike teams. They are trying to harvest a volcano's energy and we may be required to intercept. Downpower is gathering up the team now."

"Great...I just love slagging volcanoes; brings up all sorts of good memories," The red cameo mech sneered, his voice dripping heavily from sarcasm.

_Hmm, he's worried that he'll be away from Sniperifle longer...I better put his mind at ease. _Cloudcover nearly smirked.

"Sniperifle will be joining you," she informed pleasantly.

At this Wildshot sat up, a poorly disguised grin growing on his faceplate. The spike in his emotions also told Cloudcover of his excitement to be with Sniperifle.

"We need to move out before the end of the next Earth rotation if we are to catch up with the other 'cons. Remember, you're in charge, and we're not required to engage." The deep magenta femme finally let her smirk grow.

"Sure, sure, whatever the boss wants," Wildshot stood up with a jump and shut off the monitor.

Cloudcover had no choice but to follow him out while he hummed an almost merry tune to himself. If he cared that Cloudcover was with him, he didn't show it.

They stopped in the meeting room, where Icetracker was already waiting. Now they just had to await Downpower and Sniperifle and then a full debriefing could unfold. Cloudcover seated herself gracefully, reading Icetracker's emotions out of habit of knowing everybody's status.

He was displeased for being assigned to a mission, but he was also bored so it would provide a temporary if potentially dangerous outlet for him. Traitorous emotions seemed to spike from him more so than the others, including Glasscutter, so Cloudcover was merely waiting for him to snap. His cold optics flashed towards the femme, throwing her a sneer.

Cloudcover merely chuckled to herself and refocused her attention on Wildshot, who was growing eager to see Sniperifle. The moment she entered a spike of sheer euphoria shot through Wildshot and made a grin light up his faceplate. Sniperifle's emotional reaction was very similar in nature but on a slightly protective and possessive level, as if she suspected Cloudcover of wanting her mech.

The magenta femme in turn pretended to ignore the both of them to put Sniperifle more at ease. She liked the dark femme as an ally, and very possibly a potential friend. Cloudcover didn't like having mechs for friends, but a single femme was a definite exception.

"You're patrol went well?" Wildshot wrapped an arm around her, allowing Cloudcover to read a warmth rise in the other femme's spark.

_Don't find true 'con love like that much anymore. _She thought almost jealously.

Once Downpower had entered, Wildshot discussed what they were to do and then dismissed them only to report to the launch bay later that night to get a head start on the other cons. Cloudcover reminded him that Corevoid's crew was likely to be interested in the Brothers' activity as well, and of course the possibility of Autobots becoming involved as well.

Wildshot merely grinned at her.

"Don't worry, we'll try and stay out of sight. If we can steal their energy right out from their noses while they deal with the others, I'd say we have a win, win, situation."

"Fine, but I'm not helping Downpower hammer out your dents," she warned.

"Hey, don't try and hurt my feelings," Wildshot chuckled and then departed, still linked with Sniperifle.

_If I wanted to do that all I'd have to do is mess with Sniperifle. _Cloudcover thought out of spite. _Though I suppose that femme's actually good for him in one piece. He's far more careful when she's around. _

The Decepticon femme left the meeting room last and headed for her room where she could try and hack into the national satellite system again. Not only would it impress Shadowshifter, but give her a reason to be further trusted. She wasn't good with communications, but with a little practice she was sure she could grow efficient at it.

Cloudcover allowed herself a smile at the thought of Shadowshifter as she sealed her door. He was still even in her mind with Stealthblade, but he was beginning to grow more complicated as his leadership skills sharpened. Rather than being read like an open book anymore, he was growing to be more like a word search, where everything was there, just not in plain sight.

_But he's still simpler than Stealthblade...shame. _

00000

Stealthblade awoke with a shudder, feeling as if someone was talking behind his back. He sat up stiffly, remembering how uncomfortable the Med-bay berths actually were.

"Storm?" he automatically searched for his brother, but he was nowhere to be found.

"Don't worry Stealth, he's just resting back in your room due to his processor ache," Pulse appeared at his side, smiling reassuringly.

"You look better," Stealthblade addressed.

Pulse nodded. "My head's feeling better to."

Stealthblade stood on his feet and looked himself over, seeing no visual sign of the subspace installation. Pulse must have guessed what he was thinking.

"Your subspace is fully incorporated into your systems now. In order to pull something out from your subspace, you merely have to thinking about it and it will...appear...in your grasp. Ratchet gave both of you moderately sized subspaces, so you'll be able to hold a volume equivalent to a B-52 Bomber."

Stealthblade imagined the plane in his head and nodded. It was a fair amount of space, considering humans had nothing like it.

"Tell Ratchet I said thanks," he let his visor glow.

"Perhaps when he will appreciate it," Pulse chuckled nervously, "he's still a bit off."

"I see," Stealthblade glanced around for the said medic and noticed his silhouette in the office. "I guess I'll just be going then."

Just before Stealthblade made it out the door, Pulse called to him.

"Make sure Stormstrike is actually resting please."

"Sure will," Stealthblade nodded and departed from the Med-bay.

As Stealthblade meandered back to his room, the base alarms suddenly went off and there was a flurry of activity.

_Awe great...and here I was thinking we might actually have a slow day. _Stealthblade sighed aloud and headed for Headquarters to see what the problem was.


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey look, I updated, YAY! This would have been up sooner but I had homecoming (and then got asked out)**

"One of our drones spotted Closecall leading a small team to Alaska, which we presume means that they are headed for the volcano that is currently erupting there." Aero Prime gave an overview once headquarters was full.

"Great, another fragging arctic mission," Stormstrike grumbled at his brother's side.

"Maybe it won't be so bad this time?" Stealthblade shrugged helplessly.

"Yeah? And maybe a bunch of flying ponies will appear from the sky and teleport the Decepticons away to Lala Land!" The elite hissed.

Stealthblade couldn't help but chuckle at his brother's expense before returning his attention to Optimus Prime, who had now taken over for Aero Prime.

"If we plan on intercepting Closecall in time, we need our fliers to move out now." Optimus Prime's attention turned to Stealthblade and Stormstrike momentarily. "Stealthblade, Stormstrike, Rawspark, Plasmagrade, Node, and Outspace; you six will be following Aero Prime. Any questions?"

Breakshift stepped forward, confusion riddling his faceplate.

"But so what if they're going to some exploding volcano. Where's the harm in that?"

"If Closecall can harvest energy from that volcano, it will put them at an advantage." The boss bot explained.

"And you know, typically whatever Decepticons are interested in can't be any good for us," Bumblebee added.

"All right, let's get moving," Aero Prime signaled to the fliers to follow, and so they did.

_Arctic mission round two, here we go! _Stormstrike moaned internally.

_You're just upset because you still have a hangover. _Stealthblade snapped.

_I'm upset because we're going North, where it's cold, but we're also going to a volcano, which is hot, there are going to be Decepticons that will try to shoot us, and on top of it all I've got a processor ache! _

Stealthblade just shook his head in exasperation and argued with his sibling no further. The team transformed and flew out of the hangar, all taking predetermined positions with Aero Prime in the lead.

"So do ya think they're just after the energy?" Plasmagrade questioned as they sped through the air.

"I'm not sure, but it's our best bet," Aero Prime answered firmly.

_You know, they're probably going to have some super weapon hidden there and this is all actually a huge trap. _Stormstrike thought nonchalantly.

_Really Storm? A trap? _

_That, or a scheme to get us all to fight each other, because ya know, the other con groups are bound to notice this as well._

_If it's a scheme I'll give you permission to drink again. _Stealthblade would have rolled his eyes if he had them.

_Really? _Hope now filled the gray and yellow elite's spark.

_I promise. _

With that the F-22 spun in the air, catching Outspace off guard and making him fall back to avoid the wind shift.

"Hey, watch it!" the former gladiator yowled.

"Oops, my bad," Stormstrike chuckled, still giddy over Stealthblade's promise.

Stealthblade increased his speed, hoping the green mech wouldn't overreact. If anything did happen, Stealthblade was certain he could intervene and stop Outspace, but he doubted it would be necessary.

They increased speed even more, and within a few hours reached Alaska thanks to their superior technology.

"Stealthblade, cloak yourself and break formation. I want you to scout ahead and see what we're dealing with," Aero Prime ordered once they were over the appropriate island.

"Sir," Stealthblade quickly did as he was told, and veered off and sped ahead.

Raising his transparency at its highest level, Stealthblade made sure his heat signature was non-existent. He didn't want to blow anything when he had a team depending on his competence. Of course, he should have always been trying his hardest on his own.

_And he finally admits that he is lazy! _Stormstrike laughed in his head.

_No mental transmissions, it raises my energy level. _Stealthblade snapped back.

_But you don't deny it. _Stormstrike made one last little jab.

_I am above arguing with you. _Stealthblade answered despite himself.

Before Stormstrike could figure out another comeback, Stealthblade was out of their mental range. He curved up higher into the sky; worried patrols would be sweeping around once he grew closer to the volcano. After having his bad experience of Plasmagrade firing down on him before he joined the Autobots; Stealthblade was unwilling to leave any room above his form for a surprise attack.

The moment his scanners saw the fuming volcano, his spark sank. There was zero sign of any 'con activity, meaning that it very well could have been a trap. After all, the drone that picked up the activity would have been discovered due to the clear footage.

_I've got a bad feeling Stormstrike's going to be drinking high-grade again. _Stealthblade circled around high above the volcano, using its spewing ash for further cover. He was glad the ash wasn't too thick or made of pumice, or else he'd have been in major turbulence trouble.

His heat sensors flared, hoping to pick up a Decepticon signature, but all he got was the volcano's lava, which completely overwhelmed his sensors and forced them to shut down.

_Crap, this is a trap, this is a trap. _Stealthblade murmured mutely.

He made another sweep around the volcano, this time flying down closer in hopes of making a visual. He saw nothing, which meant that Closecall had hidden his troops in the smoke itself, which was rolling down the side in great billows.

_I'd better warn the others. _Stealthblade concluded and turned tail.

As he flew back to where Aero Prime and the others were waiting, Stealthblade barely detected a heat signature coming in from afar. He slowed down; scanning again to make sure it hadn't been a random spike.

To his dismay it wasn't. He quickly recognized Corevoid in the lead, immediately flanked by Ensnare and Mesh, with Silenthowl and Heavyhitter just below them. The memory of Corevoid corning him and his brother flashed through his mind and made a shudder ripple through his frame. His own death was not a pleasant memory.

Suddenly Heavyhitter and Silenthowl broke off, arcing straight for the stealth soldier and cutting him off from his route.

"Ah hell," Stealthblade grumbled and veered off back towards the volcano.

He swooped down into the plume of ash once more, only noticed this time it seemed heavier, and disrupted the lift under his wings making him wobble precariously.

"Crap it," he yowled as something struck his wing blade.

Due to the thickness of the ash he couldn't determine what had hit his wing, but he was betting it wasn't caused by the volcano. He swerved down towards where the heat was the most intense, barely skimming over the volcano's mouth before jettisoning straight up at break neck speed. Behind him he detected Silenthowl perform the same maneuver, but there was no sign of Heavyhitter.

_Where did he go? _Stealthblade accelerated further, feeling his engines exhausting themselves against the strain.

Like a winged reaper, Heavyhitter flew down at him from above and it became a game of chicken. Stealthblade refused to slow, knowing Heavyhitter wouldn't fire with Silenthowl at his back.

To the dark mech's surprise a thick beam of red energy burst out in front of him, just barely singeing the nose of his alt. His frame wavered, just enough to let Heavyhitter pass only inches away from his hull.

_What in Primus's name was that! _Stealthblade swerved and just barely caught a glint of something in the ash filled smoke.

He readjusted himself to fly back and warn Aero Prime, when another beam shot up at him and split through his right wing, making a perfectly round hole in it about the size of a window air conditioner. Smoke quickly billowed from the injury as electricity crackled freely.

Stealthblade activated his hover motor to keep from falling, cringing mentally from the damage.

_Closecall must have some laser being powered by the volcano. _Stealthblade concluded as he descended slowly.

He watched Heavyhitter and Silenthowl warily, but the two mechs seemed just as nervous of the next beam as he. The injured mech dropped in altitude blindly, too preoccupied with the situation to take notice that his wing tip was peeling off.

"Stealthblade to Aero," Stealthblade's voice came out as a hiss.

"_Stealthblade, what's happened? Why did you break radio silence?_" Aero Prime seemed displeased, but at the same time concerned.

"Two reasons sir, number one it was a trap, number two, I've been hit," Stealthblade then watched in slight awe as the remainder of his wing tip completely broke away in a bright violet crackle.

"Oh darn, there goes my wing right now," Stealthblade kept his comm. activated as he suddenly plummeted.

_Funny, I'd have thought Stormstrike would have known something was up. _Stealthblade transformed and fully activated his hover motor, allowing him to float in place.

_Stormstrike? You there? _He called out to his brother. His searing wing, or what was left of it, should have reactivated their mental connection immediately. Unless of course; they were somehow being jammed.

His visor shifted to Corevoid, wonder expressed through his tilted helm spikes. Could he block their mental connection?

"_Stealthblade, can you fall back to our position?_" Aero Prime asked, now sounding a lot less peeved and a lot more concerned.

"Um…no, that would be a negative," Stealthblade watched as Corevoid and his trine mates widely circle him, with Heavyhitter and Silenthowl investigating the source of the beam.

_Stormstrike? Come on I know you're there. _Stealthblade hissed unhappily.

"Stormstrike?" Stealthblade switched his link to talk with his brother directly.

"_Yo, something's wrong with our connection. I don't feel you at all,_" Stormstrike informed quickly, having already guessed what Stealthblade was going to ask.

"We must be getting jammed."

"_Ya think?_"

Stealthblade growled at Stormstrike's snide comment, in no mood for his sarcasm. Corevoid suddenly fired at the hovering mech, making him swerve to avoid being struck. With only a wing and a half, maneuvering quickly was not only extremely difficult, but painful as well.

He could feel the heat from the severed part of his wing slowly creeping up towards the joint, signaling that the circuitry within it was frying itself. He shot back at the trine, hoping to loosen them up enough to slip through their circle, but it was no use. His sniper rifle didn't have the rapid fire capability he needed, and with only a sword and claws as additional weapons, he was thoroughly screwed.

_Damn it, I knew I should have stocked my subspace before leaving. _Stormstrike rumbled his engine in frustration, recalling the blaster on his desk in his room.

Then out of nowhere Node swept in and fired at Corevoid, slamming into him while transforming into robot mode and cling to his wings. With the leader distracted, Stealthblade set his sights on the remaining two and fired. His shot finally found its mark, and Mesh went down, landing on the island's edge and away from the battle.

The appearance of Stormstrike led to Ensnare being shot down as well, and Stealthblade watched the light blue flier crash with contempt. Stormstrike quickly flew over to his side and transformed, his optics tight from worry.

"Don't worry, I'll live," Stealthblade assured, angling himself so that his missing wing wasn't quiet as obvious.

"Yeah sure but, how is our signal being blocked? It can't be Corevoid, Node's smashing the slag out of him," the yellow and blue bot indicated towards Node, who's visor glowed in savage pleasure as he kicked out one of the 'con's thrusters.

"I wish I knew," Stealthblade replied, only able to recall Cloudcover's strange device that she had implanted in his hip. Could she have been there watching them and jamming their connection?

Rawspark and Outspace then transformed and hovered next to Stealthblade as well, with Aero Prime circling warily above their heads in his alt mode.

"Careful everyone, the beam is coming out from the ash cloud and I have no idea who's in there with it," Stealthblade informed.

"No problem, we'll just fire until we hit something," Node declared as he flew over to them, dusting off his hands after his victorious melee with Corevoid.

"Great idea! And then when we hit the laser, it can blow up and destroy us all! What a fool-proof plan," Outspace scowled surprisingly well with only his four alien optics.

Node growled in response, his fingers morphing into small lasers of their own defensively. Stealthblade flattened his helm spikes, much too stressed to be dealing with the aggressive bots.

"Node, calm yourself; Outspace, clamp it!" His voice broke into the deeper rasp that his virus normally carried, and the others were quick to notice. They did not comment though, seeing the success of the octave drop by the sudden submissive postures of the former gladiators.

Stealthblade had no doubt he'd be confronted about it by someone later though. Then Plasmagrade flew in, having been scouting up higher to search for any other hidden Decepticons.

"Report," Aero Prime ordered to his weapon's specialist.

"Wildshot, Sniperifle, Downpower, Icetracker, and Cloudcover are bunkered on the far end of the island, but they look like they're on a surveillance mission due to their gear. Cloudcover is carrying something odd, but it reminds me of a supersized version of that device that was in Stealthblade's hip back on Mars. In fact I'm almost certain it does the same thing," he reported, glancing at the brothers and he finished.

"That would explain why we can't communicate," Stealthblade nodded.

"Stealth, when were we ever able to communicate?" his sibling chuckled.

Stealthblade simply stared at him, his faceless mask impossible to read without the assistance of his flattened helm spikes. Suddenly a sputter of flame from Stealthblade's wing blade made him drop down a few feet before regaining composure. Alarmed he turned his full attention to his wing, and saw armored plating had been burn until brittle and was now flaking off. It hurt terribly, but he had endured worse.

Rawspark swept up below him and activated his shield from his feet, allowing the black elite to touch down on it. He nodded his thanks to Rawspark, and the sullen mech returned it.

Aero Prime meanwhile continued to circle overhead, as if he'd be able to see past the ash if he looked enough times.

With a flash another beam arced out, once again aimed for Stealthblade. Rawspark spun around and activated his shield from his palms just before impact. The red energy quaked against the powerful blow, but Rawspark was at full energy and could handle the abuse.

"That was…close," Stormstrike whispered, only his brother hearing him.

"Aero, what should we do?" Plasmagrade asked of his leader "That's an awfully powerful laser, and if we let them keep it we're just going to be kicking ourselves in the aft later."

Aero Prime merely transformed and nodded in agreement, his experienced optics never once looking away from the ash.

"Rawspark, stay back and guard Stealthblade, Stormstrike, circle around the back and see how many 'cons we're dealing with. Plasmagrade, I want you find the trajectory of that blast. Node, Outspace, you're with me," Aero Prime ordered after a mental evaluation.

The said gladiators looked over at Stealthblade uncertainly, still preferring to take orders from him rather than the Prime. The black mech nodded towards them and they hesitated no longer.

_Great, injured again. Why does this always happen to me? _Stealthblade muttered to himself, a frustrated growl threatening to rise from his vocalizer.

"How is your wing?" Rawspark asked dully, now that they were alone within the protection of his shield.

"It'll hold until I get back I think," Stealthblade wiggled the joint, "I just can't transform I don't think."

"The edges are still smoldering," by Rawspark pointing out the obvious, Stealthblade knew he was actually showing concern.

The dark elite angled his purple visor to look over the injury, and saw a few more sparks fly out accompanied by smoke. The normally black metal was glowing red hot, and seemed to be very slowly, almost meticulously eating away at his wing.

_Weird, it's like the blast itself isn't the most dangerous part. _

Stealthblade reached out to further inspect the damage, but a sharp grab from Rawspark stopped his hand. He looked at the normally docile mech in confusion, but saw the wary look in his red optics.

"Careful, that may be a corrosive," he warned before releasing the stealth soldier's hand.

"Oh!" Stealthblade jolted.

_That explains why the heat's creeping past my wing now. _

Stealthblade decided against touching his wing, and returned his attention to the others, watching Stormstrike especially carefully out of habit. He didn't like not being able to communicate with his brother, it off set him. Too many bad things seemed to happen when their mental link was blocked.

"Can you see anything?" Stealthblade asked Rawspark, peering into the ash cloud as Aero Prime dived down along with Node and Outspace.

"Unfortunately," Rawspark sighed, "I cannot."

Another laser shot fired out from the ash, colliding with Rawspark's shield and making the entire force field shudder. Stealthblade jerked back to keep his balance, but only succeeded in smashing his back against the force field.

"Owe," Stealthblade twitched, raising his spinal spikes uncomfortably.

Rawspark glanced back at him expressionless, but the glance was all Stealthblade needed to know Rawspark was worried.

"I'm all right," Stealthblade assured, rolling his shoulders in hopes of relieving some of the pain.

The pair watched as Node suddenly burst forth from the ash, only he was not alone. On his hull was Deadbeat, a mech Stealthblade recognized from when he had been undercover. He recalled that the 'con transformed into a V-22 osprey and was a deep royal blue, with a bits of silver here and there. An energy knife lodged itself firmly into Node's back, slicing deep into his circuitry.

The brick red bot snarled in pain and rolled, hoping to dislodge the Decepticon. His maneuvering was of no use though, and Deadbeat only stabbed him again.

"Lower the shield a bit," Stealthblade ordered Rawspark.

The mech did as he was told, lowering the walls around them just enough to allow Stealthblade to aim his sniper rifle. After a careful calculation and an analysis of the surrounding environment, Stealthblade fired and hit Deadbeat square in the back and causing the con to lose his grip. Node rolled again and this time Deadbeat fell, colliding with the ground far below and falling offline.

Node swerved up to Stealthblade, transforming with a loud crackle. The large former gladiator gave Stealthblade a small nod, which the stealth soldier returned. He was beginning to understand that Node had the uttermost respect for him, and that his loyalties fell with him and Outspace, with zero exceptions.

"How's your back?" he called out to the visored mech.

"Nothing that can't be fixed," Node's response was one of arrogance, but the fact he responded at all was an improvement.

Stealthblade nodded and returned his attention to the hidden chaos below, making out Outspace weaving through the ash clouds, and Stormstrike doing something that involved a lot of weaving. It took the dark mech a moment to realize his brother was using himself as bait. He saw another laser shot fly out, and with the flash made out the silhouettes of multiple cons below, as well as Aero Prime and Plasmagrade scrapping it out with them.

_Plasmagrade must be trying to deactivate the laser. _He reckoned.

Heat continued to crawl up Stealthblade's wing until it entered his spine, causing his spinal spikes to flex erratically. In a way it tickled, but it was the bad type of tickle, the one that felt more like unnerving prickles than laugh inducing tingles.

_Why is it that I always do well in simulations and Stormstrike ends up 'dying', while during the real thing I get hit within the first few minutes of engagement and Stormstrike gets off without a scratch? _The dark elite wondered to himself.

Rawspark was quick to keen in on his spasming spinal spikes, and his optics finally arced up in concern. Whatever energy that the laser beam had been composed of was frying Stealthblade's circuitry, and it would only be a matter of time before it reached his vitals. Or worse, his firewall.

"We need to get you back to base," Rawspark decided, his voice sounding like he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"I'll last for a bit longer, the others might still need you," Stealthblade argued despite himself, hating the idea of leaving his brother in such a high risk scenario.

"Stealth, I think Rawspark's right, you're virus…" Node needn't go on.

Everyone knew what Stealthblade's virus was capable of, with Node being on the top of the list having combated it single handedly. No single mech was a match for him, and taking down Rawspark would be easier due to his currently active shield.

_Geeze, it's almost like I'm handicapped. _He hissed aloud.

"Stealthblade…" Rawspark shifted warily.

"Sorry, maybe you're right," the black soldier sighed, turning his purple visor towards his sibling, who was still performing a spectacular aerial dance. He could handle himself.

Rawspark nodded in relief, having seen what the stealth soldier was capable of when he lost control, and not wanting to have to combat him; ever.

A sudden sensation of vertigo swept through Stealthblade, and he fell back, blacking out before even colliding with Rawspark's force field.

**Random fact: I created Stealthblade's character when I was 10 years old, and did not know about fanfiction.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Yes, a new chapter, finally! Sorry to keep you all waiting, but I managed to create a small buffer, so the next update should be sooner. Unless I disappear or something. Enjoy ;)**

He tore at the mech's frame, gouging out his optics and shredding past his faceplate. With a thrust his claws sliced into the mech's chest plating and drove through his spark, crushing it slowly so that agonized screams wailed from his victim. With a snap he severed the spark from its body and crushed the casing it his palm, watching as the mech turned gray.

Stealthblade's red visor glowed in satisfaction as he dropped Plasmagrade's deactivated form and stalked slowly forward through the bodies of Autobots he had already slaughtered. He stepped on Rawspark's grey from without a thought, and kicked aside Node's detached arm with a raspy chuckle. All his focus zeroed in on Stormstrike; who was kneeled down and staring at him with wide hollow optics.

Stealthblade snapped out his already energon soaked sword, slicing through Stormstrike's arm and then puncturing his torso, allowing the precious energon to leak out slowly. Stormstrike gasped and coughed, energon quickly escaping his intakes and staining his chest.

"B-Brother…" Stormstrike choked pitifully.

"I am not your brother," Stealthblade rumbled through his static filled vocalizer and lunged for the blue and grey mech's head.

His super claws split through the elite's helm easily, crushing the processor inside slowly, allowing him to feel his mind be destroyed. Pain erupted through Stealthblade's own processor and he released Stormstrike staggering back and howling as his vision turned white. A jerk pulsed through his frame, and then everything went numb.

00000

"GRAAAH!" Stealthblade shrieked as he awakened, jolting straight up.

Hands quickly pushed him back down and he fought back blindly, clicking out his super claws in order to defend himself.

"Stealthblade, calm down, you're safe," Pulse's voice surprisingly spoke to him, its note low and soothing.

Stealthblade stopped struggling and raised his helm spikes in confusion, looking around and recognizing the Med-bay. His vision settled on Pulse and Ratchet, with Windgust's hands rested on his shoulders. He glanced back at the femme, whose faceplate was skewed with concern.

"S-Sorry," he whispered, tucking his dangerous claws in and smoothing his spikes back down. "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

Pulse sighed and shook his head, while Ratchet just grumbled under his breath.

"You sounded like you were having a nightmare," Windgust commented, walking around and coming into proper view.

"Something like that," the mech exhaled, recalling the rush he had gotten when he had attacked his brother. It made his spark freeze and spinal spikes shiver.

Then he realized his balance was off. Glancing at his back, Stealthblade saw that his damaged wing had been entirely removed, as well as most of his back armor. From what he could tell, his wiring had been replaced along his spine due to the twinge it caused when he moved.

_Great, this is going to take time to adapt to. _He grumbled mentally.

"What happened?" he dared to ask.

"Well," Windgust looked like she was struggling for words, "the beam that struck your wing was made from the magma within the volcano and combined with a chemical. Combined with the high heat it became a volatile corrosive which ate its way up your back until it reached your equilibrium sensor. When it completely destroyed that you fainted because all the raw information on your stability streamed straight to your processor and you blacked out from overload. It's a problem common with fighter types."

Stealthblade for once didn't require a faceplate to give Windgust a blank look. Then he stiffened.

"How's everyone else?" his thoughts swam to his brother, but he could feel no sign that he'd been injured.

"Everyone is fine; Plasmagrade melted some of his armor and Outspace got a little too confident with his flying skill, but only Node suffered any major damage like you," Pulse indicated to a nearby berth, where Stealthblade was quick to spy the recharging mech.

"And how did the mission go?"

Ratchet left for his office and Windgust turned her attention to Node, leaving Pulse.

"Not too bad, for an ambush," the medic shrugged, "Plasmagrade was able to deactivate their laser and Aero Prime nearly took out Closecall. The other cons that you reported only stole some equipment from Closecall and fled. Stormstrike was able to destroy the blocker that we assume Cloudcover had built, and I doubt anyone on Closecall's team will be seeing any action in the immediate future."

Stealthblade breathed a sigh of relief, not having realized he'd been holding it. Things always seemed to go wrong on even the simplest of missions, and the fact that an ambush went smoothly was a great relief to the stealth soldier. He refocused his attention on Node, wondering the extent of his damage. It was rare to see the bot laid up.

"If you wouldn't mind Stealthblade, but I'd like to run a few scans now that you're online, just to make sure we removed the corrosive completely from your system," Pulse requested, a gentle smile making his faceplate glow.

"Sure," he nodded.

Once Pulse had finished checking out the stealth soldier he replaced his missing armor, though remaking his wing blade would take longer. Stealthblade felt lopsided as he stood up, not having realized just how much he relied on his wings for balance.

"I shouldn't have to tell you this, but I'll tell you anyways. Do not try to transform. You will hurt yourself," Pulse did not glare, but Stealthblade felt that the medic really wanted to.

"No worries, I don't enjoy self inflicted pain," he waved off.

"Could have fooled me," Pulse frowned and began cleaning up his equipment.

"I believe you're confusing me with my sibling," Stealthblade chuckled.

_Why am I laughing? This is no laughing matter. _He scolded himself internally.

"So…what's Node's condition?" Stealthblade returned his gaze to the brick red mech. It was strangely disturbing to see the fighter peacefully shut down.

"The stabs to his frame severed his backstrut in three different places which in turn shredded the surrounding circuits causing them to melt into single mass," Pulse explained, wincing empathetically.

"Three? But he was only stabbed twice…"

"He was stabbed again after you blacked out saving Stormstrike," Pulse shrugged.

Stealthblade couldn't help but stiffen in surprise. Sure Node was no longer a constant threat to the Autobots, but the mech was in no way a fan of his brother. In fact the two only interacted when Stealthblade placed Stormstrike in charge of him.

_Why would he save Storm? Not that I'm not grateful. _Stealthblade mused.

"He'll be confined to the Med-bay for a few days, and he may want some company," Pulse spoke carefully, gauging the dark soldier's reaction.

"A bored Node is never a good thing," Stealthblade nodded, getting the hint.

"He should be awakening shortly, so I'll take my leave seeing as he's so fond of us medics," Pulse cringed, his sarcasm making the stealth soldier laugh.

"See ya Pulse," Stealthblade bid the medic a temporary farewell.

Windgust, who had been silent during the whole exchange also left, slipping out with Pulse and muttering something to him. His reaction was surprised, but not the bad kind so Stealthblade wasn't too worried.

He flipped his attention on the unconscious Node, whose relaxed frame was only possible during recharge. The gladiator's frame was still riddled with dents and scratches, and he appeared in desperate need of a wash. Stealthblade found he couldn't help but wipe a layer of ash still clinging to Node's frame away from his visor, allowing the pale blue of his visor to shine.

"They don't come much tougher than you, do they?" Stealthblade asked even though the bot was unconscious.

With a sigh he sat down on the berth beside Node's, twitching his helm spikes in slight discomfort from his missing wing. His gaze wandered over to the office, where Ratchet's silhouette could just be made out. The cranky med-bot was working his life away as usual.

_Does the guy ever take a break? _Stealthblade wondered privately.

"Urgh," a low groan suddenly broke through the silence, making Stealthblade jump unintentionally.

"Morning big shot, or is it afternoon…?" Stealthblade's visor glowed brightly.

Node groaned again, this time shifting his head to stare at the black mech.

"Argh, dear Primus I feel like I just downed twenty cubes of high-grade."

"That would probably be the sedatives," Stealthblade couldn't contain his laughter. It was so strange to see Node out of it Stealthblade just couldn't hold back his amusement.

"Can ya purge without a mouth?" Node moaned and tried to sit up.

"Whoa, hold it there bud. Your backstrut was pretty badly damaged," Stealthblade leapt to his feet and held the powerful mech down.

Node growled at the restraint, but fell limp none-the-less. His helm spikes clamped tightly down and his fists balled together tightly, but Stealthblade doubted he'd actually get punched.

"How are you feeling?" he dared to ask.

"Like shit," Node snapped.

Stealthblade merely shook his head and reseated himself, fully intent on keeping Node company to prevent him from doing something stupid or rash; or even more likely both.

_I wonder how long I'll be able to keep this up. I may need Outspace. _Stealthblade glanced towards the door.

Suddenly it opened and in ran Montana, telling Stealthblade it was later than he thought seeing as the girl could only visit after school. He realized his chronometer had been damaged and was running slow.

"Stealthblade, you're up!" the girl grinned and scrabbled over to him only to be lifted up in his large palm.

"Hey kiddo, it's nice to see ya," Stealthblade greeted warmly.

"The others filled me in all about the battle. I heard Node got messed up pretty good," she turned her honey eyes towards the said bot, only to get growled at.

"Hi Node," she brushed off his growl like it was nothing; the only person in the entire base other than Stealthblade that didn't have to fear Node's wrath.

"Fragging human," Node snuffed to himself.

"He's certainly acting like he's feeling better," Montana giggled, winning her a glowing grin from Stealthblade.

"Don't antagonize him Montana, he's having a rough time," Stealthblade chided softly.

_Though Node probably didn't want to hear that either. _The mech sighed mentally.

"You know, you look funny without another wing," Montana suddenly declared.

Stealthblade glanced back at the missing appendage self-consciously. He felt as though he should have been highly embarrassed or something, and yet he was only disturbed by it. He wondered if it had to do with his programming.

"You do realize I'm holding you twenty feet off the ground right now," his tone dropped, coming out slow and sinister.

"Oh no, I'm scared," the girl grinned.

Stealthblade shook his hand, barely letting Montana drop for a moment before immediately catching her. She released a squawk of surprise and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, but she immediately regained composure only to laugh.

"Gotcha," Stealthblade purred.

"Did not…I was erm…pretending to be scared."

The eleven year old's trembling fingers did not support her defense. Stealthblade chuckled and shook his head, deciding it best not to argue with the girl.

"So what's happening around base?" the black mech changed the subject.

Montana shrugged, "Storm's acting funny, and the twins just pulled a prank on Prowl. Other than that though it's been pretty quiet."

"Storm's acting funny?" Stealthblade questioned, uncertain of the girl's meaning.

"When isn't he?" Node spoke up, chuckling at his own joke. Stealthblade merely growled, but the gladiator wasn't concerned for his safety.

Montana however had remained passive during the exchange, telling Stealthblade that Stormstrike was not behaving as he should.

_Dang it, I wake up only to find out things are wonky with my bro. Storm, can you hear me? _Stealthblade called out, reaching out through their bond. It appeared that they were too far away to speak to each other.

"Stormstrike's being…well he's not…he's behaving really weirdly," the dark haired child struggled to explain.

"For example?" Stealthblade hoped rephrasing his question would aid the girl.

"Well when I got to the base he was talking to Rawspark, and when he saw me he kinda jumped and marched away. He didn't even say hi to me!" Stealthblade couldn't tell if Montana was more outraged by this or worried.

A tease of a chuckle bit at the back of Stealthblade's vocalizer, but he fought it off and just let his visor glow. Both Montana and Node seemed confused by this.

"Don't worry Montana, I'll talk to him and have him apologize."

"So, there's nothing wrong with him?" she raised a skeptical brow.

"Well, I wouldn't say that. There's always something wrong with Stormstrike, either mentally or physically," the stealth soldier laughed.

Montana remained uncertain, but her eyes suddenly lit up, and Stealthblade guessed she had remembered something that she had wanted to tell him. He glanced at Node; trying to judge if he was content or not. His posture was still relaxed, so Stealthblade guessed he still had a few minutes of peace.

"What is it kiddo?"

Montana's excited look quickly faded into concern, but she seemed confident she wanted to speak. Stealthblade let her bide her time.

"Someone requested to adopt me," her words were blurted out in a rush from both nervousness and excitement.

"What!" if Stealthblade hadn't been seated, he would have fallen over.

Even Node jarred a little; fully aware of the child's situation by now.

"Who?" the dark Autobot managed to compose himself.

Montana bit her lip and shook her head, "I don't know yet, the head lady wouldn't tell me."

A sudden urge to scoop up Montana and protect her overwhelmed Stealthblade. He wanted nothing more than to hold her close to his spark and keep her there, never letting her out of his sights. The feeling refused to pass, but Stealthblade managed to choke down most of it.

"Why wouldn't she tell you?" it was Node that spoke up, merely curious and nothing more.

"I don't know. I mean, I'm not even supposed to be up for adoption since well…" she couldn't continue, but didn't look distressed.

_If Montana's adopted, then she won't be able to visit anymore. _The thought threatened Stealthblade somewhere deep within his spark, making his self defense systems push to come online. He shoved back, silencing the urge.

The girl squinted here eyes up at Stealthblade, appearing to be trying to figure out what he was thinking. All she could decipher was that his helm spikes were clamped down tightly, which in her experience usually wasn't a good thing.

"Stealth?" her voice broke through his tumbling thoughts.

"Hmm?" he didn't trust himself to speak.

It was strange, for Stealthblade had never felt so possessive over the little girl as he had now. Sure he'd always been protective of her, and worried for her well being, but now it was like she was his, and needed to be guarded and nurtured like a newborn babe. He couldn't figure out why the thought of adoption had impacted him so.

"You're…acting funny to."

Stealthblade reset his vocalizer, getting the equivalent of a throat clearing to ring out. "I was just thinking."

"You seem upset." Montana mused.

"I'm…" he fought for words, "unsettled. I don't know anything about this person…or people; whichever."

A small, keen smile slowly slipped across Montana's lips, making her look strangely cunning. It made the stealth soldier's spinal spikes ripple uncomfortably.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you're acting like a parent."

Stealthblade jerked; a completely involuntary reaction that wound up with Montana laying across his palm in an effort to stay on. His sudden response though only made her giggle victoriously.

_Is that really it? Am I being overprotective because I care about her like she's my child? No, that can't be right; she's old enough to be my sister, not my child. _

"If anything I'm behaving like an older sibling should," he corrected.

Montana frowned at that, but shrugged it off.

"You are very brotherly at times I guess."

Stealthblade cocked his head, uncertain of her nonchalant tone. He couldn't tell if she was covering up her emotions, or if she really wasn't too concerned with how she defined her relationship with him.

"Ultimately I'd prefer that you'd call me your friend. Though, best friend does have a nicer ring to it," Stealthblade's visor glowed in earnest.

Montana seemed to snap out of her neutrality and nodded, a wide smile quickly filling her cheeks.

"Now, could you do me a favor and go fetch Outspace? I'm sure he'd like to visit our favorite gladiator," the back bot requested.

In response Node let loose a deep growl, but the stealth soldier and child ignored it.

"Sure thing, I'll be right back," the girl allowed Stealthblade to lower her back to the floor before scampering out.

Stealthblade turned his attention back to Node, who would have been glaring daggers into him if he had possessed a faceplate.

"Don't give me that look," Stealthblade teased the downed mech, taking advantage of his current state.

Node's flat helm spikes flared aggressively, but the threat was dulled down by his resigned position. It only made the stealth soldier chuckle.

_It's a good thing he doesn't hold grudges against me. _Stealthblade thought privately.

After a moment Node's displeasure dissolved, and he took on a more thoughtful appearance, if that was possible for the temperamental fighter. Stealthblade chose to remain quiet, wondering if Node would speak up or not.

Suddenly Node's icy visor locked onto Stealthblade's own purple one and his frame tensed; reading off as nervous.

"You used to be human, right?" Node seemed uncertain of himself, which was an anomaly to the dark soldier.

Stealthblade cocked his head; caught off guard by Node's question. He hadn't ever directly spoken with either gladiator about his history, telling him that the mech had asked somebody else; or that Outspace had and informed Node.

"Yes," Stealthblade replied warily.

"A human child?" Node pressed further.

Stealthblade crossed his arms, putting on a mock nonchalance. "I'm still older than you."

Node sighed, Stealthblade's remark obviously not being his point. Just as he was about to continue, Outspace strode in with Montana perched on one of his wickedly spiked shoulders. How the girl fit without poking herself was beyond Stealthblade.

"Node, you look hung over," the metallic green mech laughed, his four optics curving up in amusement.

"Keep laughing and you'll lose that vocalizer," the downed mech threatened, though made no move to reinforce his statement.

Outspace shrugged it off, well accustomed to Node's not-so-idle threats. Try as Stealthblade might, he could not keep the two from scuffling with each other. Even though he could separate them, the damage was usually already done.

"Outspace, I didn't call you here to antagonize 'em," Stealthblade warned, but only got a shrug in response. The movement jarred Montana, making Outspace instantly freeze up in preparation to catch her. Luckily, she caught herself.

"Sorry," Outspace scooped the girl up in his palm, his optics pulled up to express his sincerity.

"No worries, I'm all right," Montana assured.

Whether out of sudden self consciousness or caution, Outspace held the eleven year old out to Stealthblade, the designated safest mech in the room. Though recently, Stealthblade was beginning to doubt just how safe he was.

_This virus, I swear it's there. _He thought privately as he took her into his clutches.

Montana blinked up at him happily; totally trusting him to keep her safe. It made his spark sink to think that someone wanted her for themselves, to take her away from the orphanage to a new home and different family; a family without giant robots.

_She's like my little sister. _Stealthblade admitted remorsefully.

The threesome kept Node company for awhile, until it grew time for Montana to return for dinner. As much as Stealthblade wanted to take her home; without his wing he could not transform, and therefore any request on his part would have been impractical. He saw nothing of Stormstrike as he bid Montana goodbye and watched her drive away safely inside of Dawncatcher.

_I wonder what my little brother's up to? _Stealthblade stared into the oddly empty looking base.

Everyone was tucked away, either working on something or trying to amuse themselves privately. Having nothing better to do, Stealthblade slipped away into his quarters, only to doodle a few car designs on a tablet before falling into recharge sitting at his desk.


	6. Chapter 5

**Whoot, another update! I could dance! You'll find this chapter to be a bit different than previous ones. MWAHAHA!**

The shopping basket swung idly on his arm as he strode around the convenience store at a leisurely pace. Bobbing black hair bounced around excitedly in front of him, looking over every little snack and nick-knack that could possibly be of interest. He grinned slightly to himself, just pleased to be spending his time in such a manner.

"Hey Stealth, do you think we can get this?" Montana held up a family sized bag of _Doritos_; nacho cheese flavored.

"Do you have the money for it?" Stealthblade answered with a question.

Montana frowned up at the intimidating hologram, though was not at all disturbed by his tough appearance nor his six foot stature.

"I have birthday money," Montana shrugged.

"You wanna use birthday money on _Doritos_?" Stormstrike voiced from the other aisle, having been leaning on the short structure passively watching the pair shop for snacks to resupply the pantry at base.

Montana was quick to stick her tongue out at the platinum blonde, only to have Stormstrike stick it right back out at her. They went through a series of revolting faces until Stormstrike won by literally springing over the aisle and placing her in a headlock. Stealthblade couldn't help but wonder what was happening to his brother, considering he either avoided Montana to the point of being antisocial, or completely gushed over the girl and never let her out of his sight. It didn't help that he'd been blocking his thoughts since the day before.

_Maybe this is some sort of transformer puberty. _Stealthblade guessed, studying the pair as they teased one another.

Bystanders stared at the odd pair, their eyes fluttering from Stealthblade to Stormstrike and then down to little Montana. The brothers looked nothing like the child, which quickly ruled out the idea that they were related to the girl. Stealthblade just hoped no one got the wrong idea, considering their questionable wardrobe and intimidating stature.

"Um, excuse me sir, is she yours?" a woman in her mid forties dared to approach Stealthblade. He noted that a worried looking man of a small size was staring after her, and Stealthblade immediately guessed he was her husband.

Stealthblade smiled good-naturedly at the woman, hoping to reassure her.

"No ma'am, she's my step-sister's. I'm watching her with my brother for the weekend," his dark voice was quick to make the woman pale, but other than that she showed no discomfort.

"I see," she nodded briskly and then trotted back to her husband, where she was immediately spoken to in a hushed quick tone. Her reply came just as sharp and quietly, and slowly resulted in a brief argument.

Stealthblade shook his head and walked over to Montana, freeing her from Stormstrike's grasp. He shoved the basket in his brother's hands before pointing at the counter. As a second thought he placed the _Doritos _Montana had wanted in it before shoving his brother along.

_What's up? _Stormstrike keyed in on his tense posture. Having facial expressions also helped.

_The woman was suspicious of us with Montana. I think it would be best we split. We can take Montana to the mall or something so she can buy something proper with her birthday money._

Stormstrike snorted. _Because at the mall we'll attract so much less attention._

Stealthblade's only response was to whack Stormstrike upside the head before handing him cash and departing the small store with Montana in tow.

"What's up Stealth?" the girl blinked up at him innocently, unaware of all the estranged looks they were getting.

"We're just going to head over to the mall now; for fun," he smiled at her, but he couldn't keep a corner of his mouth from twitching. It was both amazing and infuriating how accurate the holograms were.

"Is something wrong?" she frowned.

"Of course not," he glanced around, noting a policeman sipping on a hot coffee not too far away.

As soon as Stormstrike joined them outside with their goods in hand, they walked over to Loosevalve's alt waiting patiently out in the parking lot. Stealthblade gave him a gentle tap on the hood, startling him out of his recharge and making him jump just enough for someone staring hard enough to notice. Luckily everyone was more preoccupied watching the two shady characters holding a young girl's hands. Her broad smile was probably the only thing that kept them from being too suspicious.

They crawled into Loosevalve easily and immediately whizzed out from the parking lot.

"Where to?" the engineer asked cheerily, even though Stealthblade was sure he'd been bored out of his mind.

"The mall, just off the highway," Stealthblade instructed from behind the driver's seat.

Loosevalve gave a rev of affirmation and soon they were speeding down the highway contently.

_I'm glad no one stares in cars. _Stealthblade looked around at the surrounding traffic, most of it composed of women or families. The single men wouldn't come out female hunting until later in the day.

A young child playing with dinosaur toys on the window stared wide eyed at the observing dark hologram, his blue gaze filled with curiosity. Stealthblade couldn't help himself and stuck his tongue out while crossing his eyes, making an immediate giggle issue from the elementary schooler. His mother remained oblivious to entire exchange as the group veered off onto the appropriate exit.

"I saw that," Stormstrike laughed, making Stealthblade immediately blush.

"S-So, what of it?" he spat out flustered.

"Ya big softy," Stormstrike only continued to chuckle, and made Montana stare at him wonderingly, having missed the exchange.

"What happened?" she looked between the two.

"Stealthblade was making an odd facial expression at a young juvenile riding alongside us," Loosevalve informed before Stealthblade could brush it off.

She giggled in response, making Stealthblade slouch down for the rest of the ride in embarrassment.

They didn't reach the mall soon enough, and as soon as they were out of the parking lot Stealthblade relaxed. It was never good to see two mysterious men with a young child in such a shady area.

"Where too kiddo?" Stealthblade grabbed her and hoisted her up onto his shoulders. A loud laugh of surprise was his reward.

_Hey… _Stormstrike frowned dejectedly.

_Hey nothing, you read my mind, you could have taken her first. _Stealthblade snapped shortly.

"I don't know, I haven't been to the mall in forever."

Stealthblade frowned and racked his processor in an attempt to remember where he liked to go when he was a human girl.

"Let's start at _JC Penny's_. Their stuff's usually cheaper," he suggested.

"Hmm, good plan," Montana nodded in approval.

After several outfits and more than one fashion show, Montana had made her selection. Stealthblade and Stormstrike both had to time out of their holograms to give the disks a break, but they had brought spares, allowing them to time right back in. It was strangely disorientating to wake up back at the base, but in an instant they were standing alongside Montana again.

She went to buying her clothing, consisting of a new jacket and several shirts that had been buy one get one free in order to open up space for the summer stock arriving. It never ceased to amaze Stealthblade how early the summer stuff came in.

While she and Stormstrike tried to convince the clerk that the shirts really were buy one get one free, Stealthblade withdrew into himself and took a short walk around the store, simply taking in the sights. It had been far too long since he'd seen so many humans acting in a normal daily fashion and made his spark ache longingly.

_They have no idea giant robots threaten to take away all of this. Whoever coined the term ignorance is bliss is a genius. _Stealthblade grumbled bitterly.

He stood especially long in front of the junior's department, staring at the teen clothing that he once wore. He remained oblivious to the questioning glances and glares, too caught up in the past.

_I miss my old jean jacket. _Stealthblade rubbed the sleeve of his leather jacket, unable to truly feel it.

"Hello, sir, hello?" a snotty voice jolted him from his thoughts.

Stealthblade spun around only to look square in the eye of a bulky security guard who had eaten one too many food court meals. His violet eyes quickly swished down to the gun in his holster.

"Uh, hi?" Stealthblade noticed quite a few more people were staring at him now.

"You are disturbing a few of the customers. I got a call requesting that I either escort you out or send you on your way," his snide tone did not change.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just looking for my niece," Stealthblade shrugged, hoping his face was convincingly sincere.

A raised brow from the security guard told him it wasn't.

_I really need to work on my lying skills. _Stealthblade mentally noted.

"I'll just be going then," he stepped back, hoping to walk around the man.

The extra sensors in his hologram disk told him the security guard was watching his entire departure.

_Do I really look that suspicious? _Stealthblade frowned.

_Well, you're speech is rather sinister, not to mention people don't trust black leather on young men. _Stormstrike replied in amusement.

_Stay where you are, I'm coming back to your position. _Stealthblade ordered.

_Oh, aren't you professional. _His brother snickered internally.

_Shut it. _

_Too late. Oh, and we're at the bathrooms. Montana had to go._

_Wha…all right; I'll be there in a jiff. _Stealthblade sighed and altered his course.

By the time Stealthblade reached the bathrooms, his brother was gone. He glanced around in confusion, only to see Montana suddenly stride out of the bathroom. She blinked up at Stealthblade in confusion at first.

"Where'd Storm go?"

"I…don't know. He didn't time out, did he?" Stealthblade examined the ground for a disk.

_Stormstrike? _Stealthblade mentally called to his brother's snoozing body lying alongside his back at base.

_Sorry bro, Windgust needed me for something so I had to time out. The disk's in the shopping bag. _Stormstrike replied before blocking Stealthblade out.

_Huh, that's weird. _Stealthblade shook his head.

"Looks like Windgust needs him for some science experiment."

"Really?" Montana furrowed her brow.

"No."

She giggled and then clasped Stealthblade's outstretched hand. They strode out into the parking lot before pausing. Montana laughed expectantly as Stealthblade suddenly facepalmed himself, having realized they were on the wrong side of the building. They would have to walk around to get to Loosevalve, seeing as this section of the parking lot was particularly difficult to reach if one was already in the mall lot.

"Come on Montana, we're going to do a bit of walking," he tightened his grasp on her hand and began to lead her around.

He kept his disk's sensors cranked on high, wary of this part of the building. This part of town was not the best to be parading around in, though Stealthblade hoped that since it wasn't too late, they wouldn't run into any trouble. His hope didn't last long.

Stealthblade began to walk past an alley when a large man with a thick beard and sunglasses jumped out in front of them, cutting them off from their current path. Stealthblade glanced down the alley itself for a possible escape route, programmed for such situations. He saw it was chain linked at the end, cutting off anyone that wanted to escape.

He pulled Montana behind him protectively, immediately noting the man's crazed look at her. He growled softly, just daring the man to try and pull something. Before he could react a different man strode up behind him, this one of a scrawnier build, but Stealthblade could guess he was fast on his feet. Then a goliath of a man pulled up on a motorcycle, also sporting the leather jacket and a long goatee, making him look years older than he actually was.

_Crap, they're like a gang or something. No wonder everyone was suspicious of me, I've got a leather jacket with metal studs too! _Stealthblade felt himself being pressured into the back alley with Montana still tucked behind him. Her hands tugged at his jacket, trying to alert him of what was happening. He growled louder, already aware of the blocked off alley.

"Hey, we don't want any trouble. Just hand over the girl and take off that jacket. You're infringin' on our look," the one with the goatee ordered, using his bulk to try and intimidate the stealth soldier.

_I wonder how fast this hologram can run… _Stealthblade gave a quick glance behind himself.

"Don't ya think about running boy. If you do as we say we'll only scruff you up a little bit," the now obvious leader sneered.

His comment was quick to get cruel smirks from his two lackeys, only causing Stealthblade to grind his teeth. Montana's grip had turned into a vice, completely incapable of letting go.

_I'll have to move fast. _Stealthblade put his hand on the girl's back slowly, trying to make it look as though he was about to give her up.

Montana yelped in protest, but before she could even feel betrayed Stealthblade grabbed her and ran, beelining it for the fence. The ruffians cried out in protest and pursued with gusto.

Stealthblade lengthened his stride, surprised by the amount of power his hologram had. He sprang half way up the wire fence, clinging to it with just one arm while with the other he tossed Montana over the top. She immediately clung onto the other side before jumping down. Stealthblade pulled himself over just as the men reached them. One grabbed at his leg, but a well placed kick to the nose sent him sprawling across the pavement.

"Run Montana!" Stealthblade urged as he sprang down.

She took off without a second thought. Stealthblade glanced back and saw the leader and bearded man were scaling the fence. It was then he saw knives in both their belts. He ran down to the end of alley before stopping. He turned slowly, unhooking the chain belt from his hips. The end had a decent spike at the end, which he could possibly use as a weapon.

The two men approached him a bit more cautiously now, seeing his intentions. Stealthblade snarled, baring his teeth and widening his stance. There was no way they were going to get to Montana.

They attacked after only a second's hesitation, probably believing that numbers were on their side. Stealthblade dived beneath the leader's kick, only to shoot up and punch the bearded man's jaw. It cracked loudly and fell askew, broken. The man howled in pain while he fell to his knees.

Suddenly the leader's knife imbedded itself in Stealthblade's holoform; sinking in deep. To Stealthblade's amazement blood began to seep out, as if the disk had anticipate the correct response to such a blow. On the bright side, he felt no pain.

Instead Stealthblade kneed the goatee man in the groan, making him buckle but not fall. Using the opening Stealthblade pulled free the knife from his side and twirled it through his fingers, combat coding taking control. The scrawny man had by now caught up, and he too had his blade out. They sized each other up, both looking for potential weaknesses. The scrawny man already thought he had it in the bag due to Stealthblade's heavily bleeding wound. What the three men failed to notice however was that none of the blood dripped off his side.

The scrawny man moved first, lunging for Stealthblade's already bad side. He pivoted in response, bouncing the oncoming blade away with his own. To his surprise the scrawny man lashed out with his free hand, hitting him across his head.

He spun from the impact, the balance of his hovering disk to be thrown off and giving the illusion of dizziness. He moved with the spin and crashed back into the scrawny man, shouldering him down into the ground. He registered the man's knife lodge itself in his lower back, but paid it no mind. It was nice not feeling pain for once.

As he stood up the two other men stared at Stealthblade in shock, the bearded man's mouth even hanging open. Stealthblade however wasn't sure if that was because his jaw was broken or not.

He pulled the knife free from his back, the blade completely free of blood. Once again, the ruffians did not seem to notice this. Instead they turned and ran, fearful of what the seemingly indestructible man would do next. Stealthblade let them go, hoping the experience would do them some good.

Then he glanced around in hopes of figuring out where Montana had run off to. Suddenly a VW Tiguan screeched into view, with a small female child peering out anxiously behind the wheel. Stealthblade smiled in relief, glad that she was safe.

_I think our next excursion will be in a slightly safer area. _Stealthblade sighed aloud, though the action gave him no physical relief.

Loosevalve pulled up right in front of Stealthblade, opening his door to allow Montana to hop out. She ran over to Stealthblade in puffing breathes, revealing fatigue and the threat of a potential asthma attack.

"Are you okay Montana?" Stealthblade quickly examined the girl.

"I'm fine, you're the one that's bleeding," she pointed out.

"It's fake blood; holographic. I actually feel fine," he assured, placing his hands on her shoulders before suddenly pulling her into a hug.

"Oh, really?" Montana returned the hug in relief.

"What happened to your attackers?" Loosevalve spoke up, seeing as there was no one around.

"Fled. I scared the crap out of them when I got back up and pulled this knife out of my back," he showed off his wicked trophy.

"I think we should leave these here," Montana frowned at the weapon.

"That's fine by me," Stealthblade dropped the sharp objects and then rethreaded his chain through his belt loops, "How about we get out of here."

Montana nodded quickly, and the pair quickly hopped back into Loosevalve, who was prompt to take them home, not bothering to ask where they wanted to go.


	7. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the delay, yada-yada... This chap lacks some action, but things will start getting back in gear once Montana's "future parent" shows up ;)**

"Our holoforms can bleed!" Stormstrike gasped in shock.

Stealthblade had reactivated once Montana had safely reached the base, and before he could go reach the girl he'd been intercepted by Stormstrike, who was quick to read his thoughts.

"Yeah, but the blood doesn't stick to anything. I guess it's because we're just a projection."

Stormstrike shuttered his optics in confusion for a moment, trying to comprehend Stealthblade's statement. The older brother sent him a quick mental picture, hoping that it would clarify things better for him.

_Oh! I see. _Stormstrike gasped.

_Yes, now excuse me, I have a stressed little girl to get to. _Stealthblade shouldered his sibling aside.

He made his way to the entrance, just in time to see Loosevalve pull in with Montana. He let the girl out and transformed, looking disturbed about something. It took Stealthblade only a second to realize it was because Montana was wheezing.

He grabbed her and headed straight for the lounge, not bothering to explain to anyone he passed by. Once there, he allowed the girl to retrieve her emergency inhaler she kept stored in her pantry.

After regaining her breath, Montana smiled up to Stealthblade in relief.

"You know, typically people carry their emergency inhalers around with them," he growled.

"Yes, well, where's the fun in that?" Montana coughed a bit, but her attack had been effectively staved off.

Stealthblade wanted to facepalm himself.

"It's bad enough nearly losing you to some gang!"

Montana grew quiet, more thoughtful and withdrawn. The black mech flicked a helm spike forward, wondering if she was going to speak or not.

"I'm sorry…I shouldn't have scared you like that," she cast her eyes towards the ground in shame.

Stealthblade sighed, unable to remain angry with the girl, "Just don't let it happen again, okay? I like having you around."

She smiled softly and nodded, though a new look crossed her face. He almost wanted to call in guilty, but that wasn't right.

"The Head won't tell me who's trying to adopt me. It sounds like it's just one person but…" she bit her lip.

Stealthblade scooped her up and placed her on his shoulder, thrumming his engines softly in hopes of comforting the girl.

"Don't worry about it. You'll learn soon enough," Stealthblade soothed.

"But what if I don't like him or her? What if they're mean? What if I don't like 'em? What if…"

"Montana," Stealthblade interrupted the panicking child, "calm down. We can worry about it after you meet her…or him."

"But…but…"

"Montana."

She breathed out a heavy sigh and gave in, hugging herself in hopes of calming down. Stealthblade couldn't help but pity the girl, but in truth he was just as worried as she was. Depending on whoever this person was would impact his relationship with the girl for the rest of his life on Earth.

_On Earth is right. _Stormstrike poked his head in the room, waving to them in a friendly manner. However his thought had sounded very grim.

_Didn't Windgust need you? _Stealthblade changed the subject subtly.

He shrugged as he walked over, obviously still needed by the femme. His blue optics focused in on Montana, his expression unreadable and thoughts blocked from his brother.

_He's doing that weird thing around Montana again. _Stealthblade confirmed.

"Hey Montana, what happened?" he sounded like he was trying to be light hearted, but Stealthblade could tell there was something else hidden behind it.

"Oh, Stealthblade saved me from some gang dudes and I started hyperventilating on the ride back," she shrugged it off like it was nothing.

_She didn't start losing it until I asked her if she was okay again. _Stealthblade muttered mentally, hoping his brother could hear him. There was no response on Stormstrike's end though.

"Well, glad to see you're safe," Stormstrike fidgeted for only a moment before breaking into a forced optic smile; one that Montana didn't seem to notice, "Now if you would excuse me, I have a previous engagement with Windgust involving something advanced and way over my head."

Stormstrike then took off, leaving the pair staring after him. They turned towards each other, only to have Montana shrug.

_That's it; I'm talking to him tonight. _Stealthblade decided.

"So, wanna keep me company while I get my new wing attached?" Stealthblade asked nonchalantly.

"Sure," Montana nodded.

00000

Stormstrike sat down in his room, having finished his business with Windgust. The femme had wanted a diagnostic of his neural circuits along his neck due to their similarity with Stealthblade's. She and Outspace were making progress with Stealthblade's anti-virus, though she regrettably informed the blue and yellow sibling that it would be several more months of trial and error. Even after that there would be syncing problems along with possible changes in Stealthblade's temperament. The pair wanted the anti-virus as safe as possible before they administered it to him.

Stormstrike sighed and glanced at his brother's desk, opticing the car designs he'd been sketching out.

_What do you know; he can draw better as a Transformer than a human. _Stormstrike snickered. _I wonder how he does that with his claws? _

He shuffled through some of the pictures, and to his surprise he found one of himself. Not his actual self of course, but of a F-22. It looked as though Stealthblade had started coloring and then lost interest, or had simply forgotten about it beneath all his other sketches. The lines were smoother than the others, revealing to Stormstrike how much more serious Stealthblade had been about drawing it.

_He must be getting bored a lot more if he's drawing crappy pictures. _Stormstrike tried to joke with himself, but just wasn't feeling it.

Every time he got time to himself, his thoughts would either drift towards Stealthblade or Montana, and most of them were grim. It was strange that he hadn't thought much about it before, but now with the possibility of Montana leaving them, he didn't know how to act. It was like he still wanted to be happy and goofing around, but that feeling just wasn't in his spark anymore.

_It's like I'm suffering Rawspark syndrome. _Stormstrike vented.

He sat down on his berth and cradled his head in his hands, trying to sort out his jumbled emotions. He felt bad that he was even keeping Stealthblade out, but he wanted to understand exactly how he felt before he thrust it all upon his brother. Stealthblade was a worrier, and Stormstrike didn't want to cause any more stress to the black mech then was needed.

There was a knock at his door, making him jump. Stormstrike sprang to his feet and opened the door, expecting that his sibling was done with his repairs. Much to his surprise, it was Rawspark that was standing in the doorway, not Stealthblade.

"'Sparky, what's up!" Stormstrike greeted as warmly as he could muster.

Rawspark obviously didn't buy it, for the mech simply strode into his room and sealed the door behind him. Stormstrike fidgeted, looking back at the door rather than his companion.

"Stormstrike…" Rawspark began in a small huff.

"Is this about me?" Stormstrike cut him off, not curtly, but sharply enough.

Rawspark didn't need to respond; the look in his red optics told Stormstrike all he needed to know. He turned to glare at a far wall, but only found it distracting with the tacky posters cluttering it up.

"You've been off lately," Rawspark commented slowly, almost cautiously.

Stormstrike's optics narrowed on their own accord. He thought he'd been doing a better job covering up his jumbled thoughts, but apparently his façade hadn't been good enough to fool his friend.

"I've just had some time to myself recently, that's all," he hoped his excuse would ward the other mech away. It didn't.

"You mean time to think," Rawspark was persistent to the point where he seated himself on Stealthblade's berth.

_Oh why won't he just leave me alone? _Stormstrike griped internally.

He turned away from Rawspark again, this time looking down at his bare berth. His mind couldn't help but ponder for a moment why he didn't take up the offer to place a blanket over it to help protect his armor. Maybe it was because Montana was there when he was asked?

"You're doing it again," Rawspark suddenly broke into his train of thought.

"Wha…?" the elite jumped.

For a mech that always sounded sullen and monotone, Rawspark was putting a surprising amount of feeling behind his words; even if that feeling was just slight.

"Every time you look away, or take a break, you lose focus. Is Montana's adoption bugging you, or is it something else?"

Stormstrike shifted from foot to foot, trying to decide whether to answer his friend honestly or not. If anything Rawspark was the one mech besides Stealthblade that he could trust not to say anything.

_Here goes nothing. _Stormstrike sighed.

"It's that, and something else," he admitted and took a seat opposite from Rawspark, yet didn't raise his head to meet the other's red gaze.

Rawspark did not speak, allowing his silence to ask for Stormstrike to continue. The elite soldier did so against his will.

"Montana…means a lot to me. I used to be human just like her and…" he stopped himself, realizing that just the simple act of talking was helping him understand his own feelings.

"And?" Rawspark just barely dipped his head in curiosity, a display Stormstrike would have cheered over any other day.

"And I…I…" he didn't want to admit it, but he had to tell someone, at it may as well have been Rawspark, "I love her."

The other mech did not so much as flinch. In fact, he didn't react at all. It was as if that was exactly what he was expecting to come out of the elite's vocalizer.

"And you're no longer human," Rawspark's tone was even more sullen than when Stormstrike had first met the mech. He felt as if the purple and gray mech pitied him.

"I know, tough luck right?" Stormstrike's optics curved up in a forced smile, one that Rawspark did not believe for a second.

"You two are the same age, correct?" Rawspark suddenly tilted his head.

"Just about. The uh, robotic body did mess with my maturity level though," Stormstrike admitted.

"You're telling me you used be more annoying than you usually are?" it took Stormstrike a moment to process that Rawspark had just told a joke, if a bit on the dry side.

"Oh, you made a funny," this time his optic grin was real.

"Don't change the subject," Rawspark waved off, "I think you should tell Montana."

"What!" the blue and yellow bot nearly fell off his berth.

"Tell her. Female humans mature faster than the males do. She will probably be more understanding than if the situation where reversed," Rawspark made it sound like it was the easiest thing in the world to do.

_She'd never look at me the same way again! Especially if she doesn't like me like that in return. _His optics widened in panic.

"Storm, the girl could be leaving us, permanently. I'd say something before she disappears and leaves you with regret," a more bitter tone entered Rawspark's voice, one of jealousy.

_He couldn't possibly be jealous of me; could he? _Stormstrike stared at his friend in wonder.

"Okay, okay…" he looked away, "I'll set something up."

Rawspark nodded in satisfaction, but did not appear to be done with the elite yet. Stormstrike was forced to make optic contact with Rawspark once more.

"You said you had two things on your processor," he started.

"Ah…that," Stormstrike rubbed the back of his neck, pretending that it itched.

"It's uh, well it's Stealthblade. He cares a lot about Montana too and well, she's his best friend. When…if…she leaves, he'll be devastated. He could even slump into a depression like…erm, well you know," Stormstrike waved over Rawspark's form vaguely, and the mech simply nodded; completely understanding that Stormstrike was addressing him.

"And I don't want that to happen to him. He doesn't deserve it, and with the virus…it just seems like the more messed up his life gets, the more the virus seems to affect him," Stormstrike paused, wondering for a second if Rawspark truly was safe to speak with, "He told me that he can feel it…when he fights, when he prepares for battle. Windgust and Outspace have been working on the antivirus whenever they can but…I don't know when it'll be too late."

Rawspark leaned back in thought, obviously analyzing Stormstrike's words down to the last detail. Whatever he was about to say was something he wanted phrased carefully. Stormstrike could feel himself growing tense.

"You're his brother Storm, you just have to take care of him," Rawspark finally broke the silence.

"But…" he shook his head at a loss, "how am I supposed to do that? This is Stealthblade, he's the one that does all the protecting and caring."

Rawspark's optics flickered up for an astrosecond, barely long enough to make Stormstrike wonder if he had been trying to give him a reassuring smile. It had been too brief to tell.

"Just be there when he needs you, let him know you're there for him. Stealthblade's strong, and wants to be strong for everyone, but you should let him know he has a shoulder to lean on when needed," Rawspark's advice was like gold, and settled some twisted writhing part deep within Stormstrike's spark that he hadn't been aware of before.

"Thank you," the elite bowed his head graciously.

Rawspark stood up to leave, but paused at the door and threw Stormstrike one last look. The soldier raised his head to meet it.

"Do you still want to take a flight after energon?" Rawspark questioned.

The two had started a tradition of flying over the open country after the evening refuel, allowing them an opportunity to relax and enjoy the simpler pleasures.

"Sure…and I think I might bring Montana with us," Stormstrike's optics curved warmly.

Rawspark nodded and strode out, leaving Stormstrike alone in his room once more. The elite's gaze settled on Stealthblade's sketches once more, making him stand. He grabbed the sketch of himself in his alt and placed it back on top of the pile. He was certain his brother would notice.


End file.
